1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telephone systems and, more particularly, to a telephone system for providing local time of a potential called party prior to initiating a call.
2. Background of the Invention
When placing a telephone call to a person (the called party) located in a time zone that is different from that associated with the person placing the call (the calling party), it is courteous to know current local time of the called party (i.e., local time of far end) and whether it is appropriate time to call the person, before placing the call. Otherwise, it can cause inconvenience to the called party. For example, the time difference between New York and Japan is 14 hours. If the calling party in New York calls, at 11 a.m., the called party in Japan would receive the call at 1 a.m. Unless the call was expected by the called party, the calling party might well have caused significant inconvenience to the called party.
It is not always easy to determine local time of far end. For example, the user of a telephone might not know the time difference between a local time of the user and the local time of far end, thus unable to determine the local time of the person. Even if the user is aware of the time difference, it is often cumbersome to determine the local time of far end.
There are devices, such as digital watches, hand-held devices, or computers, that display current time for multiple time zones or local time of various locations. Also, some offices, banks or hotels provide multiple clocks to display times of other time zones. Some telephone users might be able to rely on these devices to determine local time of far end prior to initiating a call. However, most users do not have an access to such devices all the time. It is likely that most users do not have access to such devices or displays when they wish to place a call.
Thus, there is a desire for a convenient way for a telephone user to be able to determine, prior to initiating the call, local time at the far end whenever the user wishes to place a call.